As the bestseller author Chetan Bhagat has astutely observed, in India, marriage is not just the union of the girl and the boy – it is the union of two families to come together gradually over multitudes of ceremonies during the course of the marriage – some religious, other purely social.

This was at the top of our mind when we started planning for the lavish wedding - we allowed interspersing of religious ceremonies with social dos. One such highlight was an evening of Sufi music played by one of the most renowned Sufi bands in Kolkata - HUMSUFI.

For the venue, Rang Darbar in Swabhumi was chosen mainly for its outdoor stage and sprawling area. For theme colour, a mix of ethereal blue and white with a bit of silver was chosen along with a magnificent ice bar carved and designed according to the theme. There were two reasons for the choice of colours, one, Sufi is a rendition of all that is pure which is accentuated by white and second, we wanted the decor to fuse with the open sky and make it space look like a giant auditorium with the star ensemble sky as the roof. The choice of orchids was done in tune with the theme colour. So, when the lights were turned on and the artists came to the stage, it was a perfect setting for the bride and the groom’s family members to come together.